Air con

[Lyngal]

Hi all hope you are all doing ok. Has anyone had an issue with air con causing their asthma to get worse. I flew to Spain for a long weekend 2 weeks ago and was constantly coughing and short of breath on the plane,I'd just got over a bad cold so was blaming that. Today I've travelled to Newcastle from Liverpool and the same thing happened,I've got to the stage where I'm dreading the journey back home on Saturday thanks xx

[Moonmoo22]

Yes - train and plane journeys are terrible for me and the worst is at work when it's put on!

[Gilly59]

Yes I have found the same. I thought it was just me. Makes me wheezy and induces a cough. If we have to use air con on holiday I just use it to chill the room but don't have it on after that.

[emmasue]

It might not be the air con specifically but in a plane, the air is cycled around so any allergens will be cycled round as well. It is a great place for catching bugs too! My family is in America so I have to go over every few years. I hate travelling now. Good luck.

[Minushabens]

I'm sure I read somewhere a while ago that in order to shave money off the running cost of planes, one of the things they did was change aircon design to recirculate more air inside the cabin rather than recycle it (the more 'new' air brought in, the more fuel the plane burns, & pilots have no control over it).

Now I'm certainly no expert, but what I've read is that this has, if you like, slightly raised the allergen threshold, so that more people with a propensity for a reaction will get drawn in & experience a reaction.

I imagine trains are similar; it's not that long ago that you could simply open a window, even on a high-speed train, but I imagine that manufacturers have gone down a similar road.

I don't have any obvious suggestions other than perhaps a double dose of anti-histamines before a journey.

Good luck anyway!

[Taztarr]

Yes. I recently went on a cruise and had bad asthma from day one. In my case cold air is an asthma trigger. Having said that a/c itself had never bothered me before but I think this time it may have been the dry ice used in the theatre and the a/c in the cabin overnight just exacerbating it.

However, in your case, as others have mentioned, it may have been the recycled air system in the aeroplane. For instance, it's not unusual to be on a flight where nuts are not sold and passengers asked not to eat any that they have brought with them because someone onboard has an allergy.

[Dpotter]

A/c often sets my asthma off. In the car, planes, trains, even my room when I was in hospital when I had to get them turn it down (they couldn't turn it off) as I was struggling to breathe! I'm usually quite bad on planes and prepared for the coughing fits - though it can be quite embarrassing when people think you've got some deadly infection or something you've brought for them all to catch ! Lol

[Lyngal in reply to Dpotter]

Oh I know how you feel getting the strange looks, I just say now it's ok asthma isn't contagious hey soon look away xx

[SheilaC]

I can't cope with the cold draught from air con. It is the same I'd I go out when there is a cold wind.